Unofficial news and tips about Google

November 19, 2008

Gmail Themes

Following the footsteps of Google's personalized homepage, Gmail added themes. Once the new option is enabled in your account (as usually, Gmail's new features are slowly rolled out), you'll find a tab named "Themes" in the settings page and you'll be able to choose from 30 themes. "We wanted to go beyond simple color customization, so out of the 30 odd themes we're launching today, there's a shiny theme with chrome styling, another one that turns your inbox into a retro notepad, nature themes that change scenery over time, weather driven themes that can rain on your mailbox, and fun characters to keep you in good company," mentions Gmail's blog.

Unlike other webmail services, Gmail has never provided too many customization options and users had to rely on themes created for third-party extensions like Stylish, which usually slowed down Gmail and weren't resilient to code changes.

Gmail's help center provides an interesting tidbit about the new themes: "In some cases, you can also customize by location. Some themes change during the day, and we use the location information you provide to correctly time these changes with your local sunrise, sunset, and/or weather. If you select one of these themes, you'll see a Country/Region drop-down menu appear."

Gmail also adjusted the default theme, but you can always go back to the previous theme by selecting "Classic" in the settings page. I can't decide between Contrast Black, Cherry Blossom, Graffiti and Ninja. What's your favorite theme?

341 comments:

Still me (Anonymous). I am from a non-English (US) country, but I use the English (US) language to have the latest features available, but I cant find where to enable themes, no tab called themes is in my settings :-/

It just happened in front of my face. first the new look on a reload and then the theme tab in the settings appeared within a few minutes. Much nicer presentation and with the extended labs functions this is getting real neat. Thanks google, ur soo kewl ;-P

still i like the old fashion way ,though i enabled the theme by mistake now i don't know how to disable it ..does anybody know how to disable it..i tried the default..still not getting the old one(not the old version)..thanks

(And, for the record, it's not available under my account yet either. Now I know it's coming, I'm happy to wait. They'll have ironed out any emergent niggles by then. The whiners among you really could do with learning some patience.)

One minor niggle- any chance of updating the UK "Google Mail" logo to fit in with the themes? The full-colour version doesn't go quite as well as the plain white "GMail" logo in the US versions of themes.

Unfortunately, it appears that those of us who are using GMail through Google Apps may be left out in the cold. According to an article from information week, it sounds like Google is not planning to bring themes to Google Apps users at all (although I'm personally hoping this is merely a delay in the roll-out to address corporate "standardization" concerns):

"Google's enterprise customers, however, are allowed no such levity: Gmail themes are not available to Google Apps users, a Google spokesperson said."

The article goes on to say that iGoogle has had themes for over a year, and since Google Apps Personalized Pages do not support themes, I'm expecting that GMail will very unfortunately follow the same page.

Personally, I find it disappointing that Google Apps customers (many of whom are actually *paying* for Google services) are being left out of features like these. I can understand that large Enterprise customers might not like it, but the option could very easily be added to turn it on or off in the Domain Settings control panel, or even enforce a single corporate-wide theme that is different from the standard one (to be fair, the logo and colours can be changed on Google Apps accounts, but this doesn't compare to being able to change the entire look and feel).

Where did you see in that InformationWeek article that Google Apps users won't get themes?

"Gmail themes are not available to Google Apps users, a Google spokesperson said." - that's the only factual sentence related to Google Apps from that article. Gmail themes are not available to Google Apps users for now, but that doesn't mean they won't be added.

Well, I used the word "may not be" and as I also mentioned I'm certainly *hoping* that it's merely a delayed roll-out to address other concerns, but the tone of that statement leaves room to assume that it's something Google is simply not planning to offer in the immediate future.

Normally, when Google has rolled out features that they are planning to deliver to Google Apps customers in a short time frame, we don't normally see statements that they're simply not available to Google Apps customers... It just takes time to actually see them show up.

I don't think it necessarily means that Google Apps users will *never* get themes, but it does seem to apply that it's going to be a ways off, rather than simply a matter of waiting for it to be rolled out across the Google environment (as it would be for most other recent features).

To be fair, there *are* issues to be addressed with properly rolling this out to Google Apps users, since Google Apps has traditionally offered other forms of customization, and I imagine that they would need to work around that as well as providing the necessary Domain Management controls for themes and corporate "branding" that some Enterprise Google customers would likely demand.

However, the fact that iGoogle's themes (and other advanced features) have yet to come to Google Apps doesn't bode well for seeing them in the GMail space.

Why in the hell does everyone i know have the new features but i don't..... Google wouldn't have these people if it weren't for me spreading the word. This is crap. My girlfriend has it and she probably won't even see it for a month when she signs in next. I used mine every day!!!! I'll remember this gmail

"Oh well aren't we superior, must be nice to wake up and feel so much better than everyone else, what with your giant brain and infinite patience and understanding, (and sarcasm)."

I never claimed to be superior. I'm just not particularly inclined to make a scene just because I'm not first in line.

"the fooking cheek of you. I bet your're lying through your teeth and have them already."

I'm using Gmail through Google Apps. If Jesse's prediction is right, I won't ever get themes. Call it poetic justice if it makes your day.

If that turns out to be the case, then so be it, but it's unlikely to provoke me into shouting about how "I'll remember this" or how Google's "not up to par" or cry discrimination. (Can an apparently random selection *be* discriminatory?)

I also still don't have any themes, and I sincerely feel deprived. I have been with Gmail since the beginning and I've spread the word to all my friends. If only there were a logical explanation for who gets the themes first and why, I would feel so much better. Not to blow things out of proportion, but you feel like the victim of a random and personal attack when all your friends are talking about their crazy themes (and many of them are people who YOU convinced to turn to Gmail), and you still don't have them, and don't know why. I would have expected better from Google.

from my experience Beach changes over time, showing sunrise, or daylight or sunset; and Tree changes with the weather, if you set your country and city below. have fun and thanx for Tea House hint - I didn't know!

i didn't have themes but i noticed when i relogged in a notice came up under the search bar like "try themes blablabla" also the link posted by someone above worked. i copy and pasted it in my address bar hit enter and since i was already logged into gmail brought up my settings page with themes on it. good luck everyone!

GMAIL has OFFICIALLY become the love of my life!!! I've been using Gmail for a good 3 years now, and it was love at 1st sight! And even though back then when I opened my account it didn't have many features (and wasn't opened to the public in general, you had to be invited) it was still great, now it's like the CADILLAC/MUSTANG/FERRARI of email accounts!!! How could I ever change it??? I'M IN LOVE!!!!

The gmail themes was just enabled on my account today, and I'm so happy about it! I can't decide on what theme to use!! Really, I love gmail ^__^ However, I just have on question: why are some of the themes featured here on the blog not available on my account (like pebbles and graffiti)? Is this due to the roll-out or are some themes specific to an area/country?

I wanna go back to default theme after tried a little bit, the default theme which is simple that's what I like most, but it seems I can't go back, I mean go real back. I had chosen "default" and "classic", but they are more different from the really default & classic one, the background of buttons & more actions bar is too light, and the buttons, just like "delete", are too big. could you let me know how can I go backward? thank you.

The default Gmail theme has been updated and even the classic theme looks slightly different. The only way to get the original theme is to click on "Older version" or bookmark https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=1, but you'll lose some features (colored labels, audio/video chat, Gmail Labs).

Gorgeous... I chose a new theme at home yesterday. But how come when I opened gmail to check my mail at work (same account) the old theme appears and no way to change it to new themes. It's the same account. Does it have to do with IP addresses and not about accounts as such ?

To the people complaining or wondering why they don't have them yet - Google tends to roll out new features to accounts at random. The roll out is to prevent everyone from hitting the new feature all at the same time and taking the whole system down. If you didn't get it first this time, you might get the next new feature first.. it's random, because, you know, that's fair. You will have them soon enough, and in the meantime stop complaining about something you get for free like kindergartners who haven't had the lesson on patience yet.

If you use IE6 without a required patch, you'll get the old version Gmail which doesn't support themes. Google worked hard to make the new Gmail work in IE6, so you should make some effort and install the latest updates for IE.

It works on my desktop. On my laptop it only works with firefox, but not ie. The theme is there, but no settings tab for it. Anyone know if it could be something with cookies, security or anitvirus? I deleted temporary files and no change.

Not all Google Apps users are Enterprise clients. Since we PAY for the privelege of GAFYD service, we ought to at least have the choice to turn themes on and off, and the rollout shouldn't be delayed.

The other kick in the teeth is that, although Themes may not be being rolled out to Google Apps Gmail, there have obviously been some changes, because good the great "Gmail Redesigned" skin no longer works (and the timing is just too xcoincidental to the themes rollout announcement, which also mentioend other changes to the basic mail interface. So, if these changes were rolled out to GAFYT Gmail accounts, why not themes?

To all of you who havent got themes yet...if you are using Internet Explorer, check the version...I was able to view the themes for IE 7, but on my laptop with IE 6 I cant see it... So try UPDATING YOUR BROWSER to IE 7 or Firefox or mayb the IE6 patch might do the trick...

YES, the contrast between read and unread is terrible! The themes themselves are nice but the good ones are unusable due to the poor contrast. I hope they adjust that or at least let the user adjust it.

<Kre8ive> To all of you who havent got themes yet...if you are using Internet Explorer, check the version...I was able to view the themes for IE 7, but on my laptop with IE 6 I cant see it... So try UPDATING YOUR BROWSER to IE 7 or Firefox or mayb the IE6 patch might do the trick...

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Something just occurred to me. Oh my.

If Google are using this as a means to convince people to move away from IE6... then I think I may just fall in love with Google all over again.

IE6 is an outdated browser released in 2001, before companies started to use Ajax. If you remember, Gmail has been launched in 2004, three years after IE6. When you use an outdated software, you shouldn't expect to be supported by new services.

Last year, Gmail released an important update, which only supported new browsers (IE7/Firefox 2+). Since then, the support has been extended to Safari 3, Chrome and IE6 (completely updated with all the patches released by Microsoft). You can still use the old version of Gmail in all the other browsers, but you'll miss new features like themes, video chat etc.

In the preview (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_JE4qNpFW6Yk/SSSRNDDTP7I/AAAAAAAAAMU/LWtu9klI-Bo/s1600-h/skins_grid.png) there is a theme listed that I can not find!See the top right image? That theme is not in my list...!Where can I find it? Is it hidden? Is it a special feature? Does it mean there are more themes to come??

Like A.K I love the teahouse theme. Although until now I hadn't realised the pictures changed. Obviously I can't stay glued to my email for 24 hours! Is there anywhere I can checkout what happens thruout its day in 30 seconds?!!!

If you have the new version of Gmail *, you can change your theme in the settings.

* How to check if you have the new Gmail? Find a link at the top of the page title "Older version". If you don't have the new Gmail, you're probably using an old version of a browser. Install Firefox 3 [Win/Mac/Linux], Safari 3 [Mac/Win], Internet Explorer 7 [Win] or Chrome [Win].

Why in the hell does everyone i know have the new features but i don't..... Google wouldn't have these people if it weren't for me spreading the word. This is crap http://nevaavto.ru. My girlfriend has it and she probably won't even see it for a month when she signs in next. I used mine every day!!!! I'll remember this gmail

You don't have "Tea Garden" as an option for yours! The tea garden has a little fox who keeps busy around the garden during the day. He works on the roof, cuts flowers, sweeps, etc. It's all static, there's no animation but it's really adorable.